What's Come Over Me
by HollywoodHearts
Summary: Holly Anderson can handle twin sisters, perverted 9th grade guys, and being a total book nerd in a sea of Hollister-wearing, designer-obsessed cloans. But can she handle keeping a secret as big as being a vimpire?
1. Chapter 1

Clink

Clink. Clink. Clink.

For the fourth time that week, I heard what sounded like chains coming from the other side of my room. The hot, sticky, humid Texas summer air meant that I was basically sleeping with no blanket, and minimal clothing, and the thought of some preditor being on the other side of the room had made me start storing a blanket on the side of my bed, just in case. The clanking started again, and I was really starting to get sick of all this. I threw my legs off the bed, and pushed my glasses roughly on my face. I had never really believed in the supernatural. I was always the, "Stay pure till marriage," girl in my group, and that gives me some credit seeing at age thirteen, most of my friends had already lost their virginity. For the first 13 years of my existence, I was a non-denominational Christian. Which is why, when I got up and went to sit at my computer desk, turned on the monitor, and opened up the internet to Google, I kept thinking to myself, I can't believe I'm doing this. The word "ghost" brought up millions of results. I clicked on the first link, which was, as I expected, an article written by a pastor, saying that ghosts could never exist. I quickly went back to the search page and scrolled down for a few minutes. Then I saw link that looked interesting.

It read, "Specter locator. Why is a ghost at your house? We've got the answer." Well, my house was in a new development area, but still, no harm done, right? I clicked on the link, and it asked me for my address, and I typed it in, followed by my name and a phone number that I could be reached at. I clicked the submit button, and then a pop up came up saying, "Thanks you for using Specter Locator! Please wait one-two weeks for analysis." I groaned, and went back to the search page. Finally, after about half an hour of looking at different sites, I decided it was time for bed. In the morning, I got a call from my friend, Breanna, asking if I wanted to go to the water park with her. It sounded like a nice idea, but I had made plans with another friend of mine. Aaron was the A team football quarterback, and in 8th grade that may not mean much, but hey, he was cute, and I was tutoring. He was almost failing algebra, and he needed some help to pass so he could stay on the team in 9th grade, the following year. At around noon, the doorbell rang and I ran to get it. These were the few times when I bothered to straighten, gloss, powder, and anything else I could do.

"Hey, Holly," Aaron said, side stepping into the room. I smiled and led him to the kitchen. I had whipped up a batch of my signature double chocolate cookies, and they were sitting on the table along with two glasses of milk. We got to work on his summer math tutorials, while we both nibbled at cookies. After about an hour, his head shot up in the middle of an equation. "What's that sound?" he asked. I listened more closely, and there was a faint sound of someone screaming. I'm not just talking like "ahhh! You're tickling me!" screaming. I'm talking like blood curdling screams.

"Stay here," I said, walking back towards the stairs, and then into my room, where the sounds were coming from. The screams were getting louder, but, the second I flung my door open, they stopped, dead. These events were getting worse by the day, and I seriously needed to like talk to my pastor or something about maybe getting an exorcism. It was really messing with my personal life. Shortly after that, Aaron left, saying he had football camp at five. I went online and talked to a few friends, watched some TV, and then finally went upstairs to go to bed. I still couldn't sleep, though, for some unknown reason, and so I threw on a pair of old shorts and a tee and grabbed my iPod. I started on the running path that leads towards the elementary school, letting Hairspray music, Fergie, and even some Plain white T's fill my thoughts, rather than the sounds of the screams from earlier. After Hey There Delilah, I decided to take a breather, and pulled my earphones out. I was looking at my pocket to put them in with the iPod, when I ran, face first, into something. I stepped back, trying to figure out weather my nose was broken or not, and then looked up. There was a guy standing a foot in front of me. He looked fifteen, maybe older, and through the tight tee he wore, I could see he had more muscles than Aaron (which I had seen when we had all gone to the water park once). The guy mumbled a sorry, and jogged the other way. "Rude," I said under my breath. He stopped for a split second, and then kept running. After that, I headed back home, trying to keep a safe distance from weirdo-guy, as I had named him. The jog had taken all my energy, like I had expected, and so when I got home, I stripped out of my tee and shorts, threw on a longer tee, and climbed in bed, not even bothering with the blanket.

"Holly…." Someone moaned, and I woke up, startled. Then they said it again. "Holly…" I was getting really freaked out. I thought that maybe then was a good time to go sleep on the couch. I threw on my glasses and headed for the door. Wham! Something hit me square in the stomach, and I fell back onto the bed. I couldn't see what had done it, but my arms were, for some reason, pinned above my head. An invisible hand traced up my thigh, and I had the urge to scream. I felt something cup over my mouth, and I struggled against the hand holding mine together. The hand traced up my thigh, pulling at the hem of my shirt. And then is slowly started pushing the shirt up, past my panties, and almost half way up my stomach, before I started struggling again. A loud smack and a stinging across my cheek. The hand had moved off my mouth, and I screamed as loud as I could. I got another slap for it. It seemed that the specter was getting tired of me fighting. Something picked me up by the legs, and carried me over towards the open window. I screamed again, as I was held out of the window, dangling a story above the ground. Something moved in the bushes below, and my tears fell fast. And then, the hands on my legs let me go, and when I hit the ground, I was out like a light.


	2. Chapter 2

The next thing I remember, I was lying face down on some hard surface. I tried to open my eyes, but the light suddenly burned.

"Be careful, il mio amore."

My head shot up, and light be damned, I opened my eyes. There was the guy from my jog, very shirtless, under me. I squirmed to sit up, and that only made things worse, when I realized I was straddling his waist. I mean, come on, I may have been almost fourteen, but still, I can get embarrassed by these things.

"You," I said through my teeth. The sound of my own voice scared me. It was higher in pitch, almost a light, tinkling sound. The memories of the night came back to me, and I looked at him. "What the hell happened to me?" I said, again through my teeth. He sat up, and I was basically sitting in his lap.

"In short," he said, "you died."

"I what?!" He didn't seem effected by the volume of my voice, and even put a hand on my back, pulling me to him. I had no idea who this guy was. He looked older than me, and he was sitting there half naked.

"Well, when that specter threw you out the window, we didn't get to you in time to keep you alive. So…" He trailed off, his hand still on my back, now rubbing in circles. Something felt off. I remembered what I had been wearing the night before, and I mentally cursed myself for not wearing something different, but the material between his hand and my back felt different than the polyester blend. I looked down and almost fell off his lap. I was in a very slinky, very black, very lacy dress. I wanted to go grab the blanket form my room and cover up, that's how embarrassed I was.

"So what?" I asked.

"I turned you."

"Turned me?"

"Into one of us."

"And us would be…?"

"The vampires." My eyes widened, and I struggled more to get off him. He held me tight. "Wait," he said. "Would you rather I let you die?" he asked. He had me on that one. But I was still very uncomfortable.

"No, but still. You've gotta give me a little time to react." I put a hand on his chest and pulled back, finally rolling away from him. That's when I realized we weren't on a table like I had expected, or a platform in an old room, but we were on a bed, in an old room. The windows were wide open, and it was dark outside. "How long has it been?"

"Almost 24 hours. You're the fastest turn I've seen in a while." I felt a little twang of pride in that, but I still felt weird. I got up off the bed and went to goo in the long mirror on the other side of the room. What I saw in my reflection shocked me (yes, I could see myself). My eyes weren't encased by my old red glasses anymore, and the brown in them shone golden like honey. My skin was a lot paler (I used to have really red tones, so that was a given), but my lips, in contrast, were a bright red. My red hair was no longer the dyed auburn, but my natural blonde color that i had hated for years. It was almost to the middle of my back though. Moving down, I saw I had gone up almost two cups in the chest department, and I had grown about five inches. Overall, I looked a whole hell of a lot more mature than I had before.

"Wow," I said under my breath. I fingered the black satin of the dress in my hands, and my senses were more aware than ever before.

"I know," said the guy, getting up off the bed and coming to stand behind me. "Il mio amore, you are beautiful." I realized for the first time that he spoke with an accent. Italian, it sounded.

"What's up with the "my love" stuff? I don't even know you." He chuckled, and rested a hand on my shoulder.

"I should have known you would know our language. Your knowledge surpasses most for our age."

"Our age?"

"You're thirteen, are you not?" I nodded.

"Fourteen in two weeks. Why?" I asked.

"As am I. I am stuck at thirteen for the rest of my being. As are you." I looked up at his face in the reflection. He sure didn't look 13, but then again, neither did I.

"Then why do we look so much older?" I inquired.

"When we turn," he explained, "it brings out the inside qualities more than enhances the outside ones. Because you and I show wisdom and maturity beyond our ages, we look older than we are. The most beautiful person in the world could become an old hag when they turned, because of their personality." I thought for a second.

"Talk about the outside looking in," I muttered. He laughed. "Still, what's up with the "my love" stuff. I know Italian, my grandpa's from Venice."

"I will get to that later," he said, "but for now, you need to come with me. I promised someone that they could talk to you after you were done feeding."

"Feeding?"

"Drinking my blood. You needed your strength to turn." I rolled my eyes. This whole thing was going to be very interesting. He started heading for the door.

"Wait!" I said. "Aren't we going to get dressed?" I asked.

"You are dressed," he said, flashing a bright white grin. I put my hands on my hips.

"I am not going out there in this," I said, raising my eyebrows. He laughed and pointed to the dresser on the side of the room.

"There are more clothes in there. Just meet me in the hall when you are dressed." He turned back as he was walking out the door. "Oh, and by the way, my name is Josh."


	3. Chapter 3

I flipped through the numerous articles of clothing in the wardrobe, trying to find something without lace, silk, that wasn't only about three inches of fabric, or holes where there shouldn't be. I finally found a decent looking pair of jeans and a tee shirt, but when I threw it on, I realized that the tee was a cut off and showed most of my stomach. When I was human, I would never have worn anything like it, mostly because I had a little baby fat on my stomach. But now, the pride of my new body kind of overpowered the embarrassment. Though, I couldn't help but thinking that this Josh was your average teenage guy, only with a credit card and the power to pick what girls wore. That's a dangerous combo. I threw on a pair of flip flops I found and brushed my hair out with my hand. I slowly walked towards the door and into the hall. Josh was leaning on the wall right outside.

"OH, damn, I was hoping you would pick the pink skirt," he said. Oh, yes, I like I was going to pick the skirt that didn't even cover half my butt. I rolled my eyes.

"Let's just get this show on the road," I said. He lead me down a couple flights of stairs (this place was like mansion sized) and finally into a large sitting room where there were two people sitting. Both looked about my mom and dad's age, one was a woman with long brown hair, and the other was a man with hair that was graying in places. Josh bowed a bit next to me.

"Ah, Josh, I see our guest has woken up," the lady said. I tried to smile as she handed me a cup of tea. "It's so good to meet you, Miss Anderson. I'm Melanie, Josh's mother." I was surprised she knew my name.

"And I am Caleb, Josh's father," the man said. I smiled and shook his hand, and then took a sip of tea. I had a couple questions.

"So you guys are a family of-"

"Vampires?" Caleb asked. "Yes. Our history is long. Melanie and I were born in the early 1800's, and then we had Josh after we married." He looked over at her, and smiled. "In 1846, we were all in a train crash, along with twenty other people. Among those was a vampire, who pulled us out of the wreckage and turned us one by one." Another sad smiled came across his face, and I took another sip of tea. I turned to Josh.

"Why did you save me?" I asked him. I saw Caleb and Melanie exchange glances.

"Well," he said, "my father runs a site for ghost finding called-"

"Specter locator," I said, shaking my head.

"Yeah," Josh said. "And we knew you were in emanate danger from the history of your ghost."

"My ghost?"  
"The ghost that is in your house. He's a repeat attacker," Caleb said. I raised an eyebrow.

"As in…?"

"His name is Jacob Willaby. In the early 1900's he was a repeat sexual assaulter on young girls about your age. Your house is built on the grounds of a private jail cell that they held him in all those ears ago." Caleb's voice didn't even falter, but, strangely, I heard Josh's jaw clench when he said "girls about your age." "When he was incarcerated, he claimed he was tortured while in the cell. He claimed that the gaurds would throw boulders at his legs, breaking them for weeks on end, only to set wrong, and they would throw him against the wall, giving him concussions." I cringed, but almost as suddenly as I had tried to get off of Josh earlier, I stood up, knocking my tea to the floor.

"What about my little sisters?" I said, frantically. My two twin sisters, Elaine and Rose, had just turned seven. "If that pervert went after me, he's going to go after them too." Josh put a hand on my shoulder from behind and pushed me back onto the couch.

"Your sisters are safe. We banished Jacob from the house last night. And even so, he only has ever attacked girls who were going through puberty," Caleb said. I could feel myself blushing. So, now I was stuck in this body forever. Ok, so I could pass from ages 13-17 if I wanted to with the right clothes and makeup, but still, there was definitely a down side.

"So where do my parents think I've been?" I asked. Melanie put her tea down.

"We had one of our shape-shifter friends-"

"Shape shifter?"

"Some vampires have extra powers," she explained. "Caleb can sense other supernatural beings. We had one of our friends who can shape shift stay in your house, while acting like you."

"And how am I supposed to explain this sudden change to my parents when your friend and I switch back and I mysteriously look five years older?" I was talking fast, as I usually do when I get stressed. I heard Josh snort behind me.

"We're having the shape shifter change something about you every day. Maybe have a sudden growth spurt, get a dye job, start exercising. In a few weeks she'll look exactly like you do now. Only, you won't have to take the heat for dying your hair." I laughed at that one. My mom always liked me better as a red-head. Melanie and Caleb must have already figured out that I wasn't a natural redhead, because, well, you know.

"Hold on," I said. "A few weeks?!"

"Yes, You'll be staying here with us for the time being. That way our friend can set the ground for you."

"But isn't there something you can do that'll make it so I don't have to be cut off from my friends or Aaron for the next two weeks?" I said, again, talking fast.

"Aaron?" Josh asked. Was that a hint of, I don't know, jealousy, in his voice?

"The guy I tutor. He's hopeless without me. The fate of the freshman A team rides on my shoulders."

"Well, I suppose we could use the glamour," Caleb said.

"The glamour?" I asked.

"It's an old spell that only vampires can perform. It allows one to change their appearance. As long as you come back every night before sundown to adjust things, I don't see why it couldn't work." I nodded.

"But what is her cover going to be?" Josh asked. I turned around and looked at him as he continued. "I mean, she's going to be spending a lot of time here. And it's not like she sleeps, so is she just going to spend time here?" Caleb laughed.

"Calm down." He turned to me. "Holly, since we don't sleep, your going to get very bored very fast. Would you like to spend nights here so you'll have something to do? I hear you like reading, and we have a full stocked library upstairs." Which upstairs? I though. But still, I nodded vigorously. He turned to Josh. "And as for her cover story for being here before dark for adjusting, you are it."

"I'm what?" Josh asked, confused.

"You're going to be her cover story. She'll be spending the time gone with you. So you better want to make a good impression on her parents." Calebs smile widened, making creases on his forehead. I seemed to grasp the concept before Josh, and gasped.

"Are you insane?! My dad would kill him!" I said, worried for not only Josh's safety but my fathers mental health. I mean, Josh looked about sixteen at the oldest. My dad would have a nervy spaz before he even let me explain that Josh was my age. He just looked older (like I would be in the coming weeks).

"What?" Josh asked. "Why would I need to make a good impression on your parents?" he asked. I actually rolled my eyes, despite my shock.

"You know, for an guy who's supposed to be almost two centuries old, you sure are dumb when it comes to the expectations of parents," I said. He sent a glare my way, but he was still confused.

"You," Caleb said, "will need to impress Mr. and Mrs. Norris because otherwise, they wouldn't let you date their daughter." Oh, joy, now I had an awesome body, all the time in the world to read, and, an immortal boyfriend to top it off. Well, two out of three isn't bad.


	4. Chapter 4

As I stood in the middle of the living room in the Carlson mansion (yes, it was in fact, a mansion) humming Camp Rock songs (which Josh took to be funny), Caleb waved his hands all over my body, not actually touching, but making some sort of invisible force field that he would be able to manipulate. I turned to look in the mirror after he was done.

"Um, why don't I look any different?" I asked. He looked up, shocked, and then seemed to remember something. Melanie disappeared for a few minutes after he whispered something to her, carrying a small hand mirror. I had forgotten that vampires couldn't see the Glamour in themselves or other vampires. Just humans could. I held the mirror in front of my face and it seemed to glow a faint yellow before I saw my old self in the mirror. "Uh, guys, we're forgetting something," I said.

"What?" Josh asked.

"My glasses. I have contacts, but my mom would never fall for the "I just now started wearing them" routine." Before I was done, Josh had disappeared and re-appeared holding a small case, in which my glasses were held. I threw them on my face. "Perfect."

So this was going to be the hard part. It was almost eleven AM, around when I started to and read or something on Saturday mornings like I usually did. At first when Josh had told me I'd be going home that morning, I momentarily panicked. But…..I guess the stupid shiny vampire thing is just a myth, as I had put it in my mind. We could go out in the daylight, but our eyes could get damaged if we weren't careful. I guessed that we would just go back to the house, I would climb in my window, and that would be the end of it. As Caleb and Melanie had explained, not much had happened since I had left. Breanna had called again, and Aaron had come by. The usual. The thing I was worried about was that my friends would eventually figure out why I wasn't _sleeping _at sleepovers…then again, who does? Anywho, they would all notice something eventually. Which is why I had had Caleb and Melanie help me with some excuses. I had apparently learned from the best. The other thing I noticed was that this didn't seem to be the norm for them. I hadn't seen other teen vampires in the time I had been at the house, so I had figured that I was somewhat special. I guessed that this had some connection for the whole "my love" thing with Josh. I would just have to wait it out. We got to the front of the house, and I saw a girl who looked exactly like me (well, like I would to a human, because Vampires can't see the glamour, only humans). My eyes widened. But before I would say anything, her features started to shift and finally game to set on dark brown, long hair, with the same color eyes, and small features. She looked about our age, but who knows.

"Hi, I'm Sadie," she said, holding out her hand. Hmf, friendly enough. I shook it.

"I'm Holly, as you already know." She laughed.

"Yeah. Well, I gotta get going home. But it was great to meet you. Your family is very sweet, and you've got a great catch with Aaron." I laughed. "I honestly thought he was your boyfriend at first." Fat chance. I hadn't dated since seventh grade, and even that was a week-long fling with a cousin of a friend. But, I guess, now that didn't really matter, now that everyone was going to think that Josh and I were dating. We said goodbye to Sadie after we switched clothes. We were about the same size, even in the chest, which was a surprise. Then, I climbed up the fire ladder that she had used to get down, said goodnight to everyone from out of the window, and then went to the computer. I knew that I had things to check, many things, and people would be suspicious if I didn't reply to a message from a Sunday until Friday night (I usually was on for hours every day…), so I went ahead and checked my MySpace and worked on a few fan fictions on Mibba. I had been home for a while, and when I finally checked the clock again, it was well after eight. "Talk about being lost in the moment," I muttered. I slowly walked towards the door and cautiously opened it, peering out. I had to be as un-obvious as possible, but I still missed my parents and sisters. The door creaked slightly as I slowly opened it, and I waited to see if there was a reaction. I guessed that it was just my heightened senses, because nothing happened. I opened the door all the way and stepped out, walking down the hall towards the living room. My mom and dad were sitting on the couch watching CSI: NY. I had seen the twins still in bed when I passed their room and assumed that they had been up late (Friday nights are usually hectic around my house: if it's not a piano recital than it's a PTA meeting or a ballet recital). Mom looked at me just as I slid into the chair next to the couch.

"Aren't you usually in the lair by now?" she asked, looking back at the TV just as some perp was getting arrested. The thing I can't stand about my house is that everyone keeps the TV so low. But now, even on like 15, it was booming in my ears. I mentally cursed the whole "new senses thing," and tried to smirk as I watched the TV mindlessly.

"Yeah, but I couldn't sleep. I chugged a Dr. P earlier." Mom and Dad both laughed, and Mom switched the channel to Food Network as comercials came on. God, I love Rachel Rae.

"Well good luck getting sleep before tomorrow." I looked at her.

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, remember, you wanted to get your hair done?" I looked at her, wide-eyed, and then realized that Sadie must have had this convo with her. I mentally noted to yell at someone later for not telling me, and then straightened out my face.

"Oh yeah. I guess. What's time's the appointment again?"

"Eleven. And then after I was thinking we could go to the mall and get you that swimsuit you need for Aaron's party on Sunday." I think my jaw dropped. How could they have not told me about Aaron's party?? I knew it had been coming up, but apparently "I" got the details this week .I tried to play it cool as I nodded in approval.

"Ok, that sounds fine. I'll just set my alarm for ten." I got up to walk to my room, but mom grabbed my hand before I could.

"Is something different about you?" she asked. "I could swear you look different." I deflected the question as I retreated back to my room, grabbing my cell phone to dial Josh's number.

"Hello?" he answered, his Italian accent sounding stronger on the phone.

"What the hell were you thinking? I have Aaron's party in two days and no one told me??" I started yelling.

"La distorsione di velocità calma giù, calma giù. Siete seriamente avete preoccupato a tale proposito il partito degli idioti?"

"No I will not calm down. And yes, I'm worried about that 'idiots' party. He's my friend, and this is the first time I've been invited to one of his parties." Josh breathed loudly into the phone.

"We didn't tell you because I forgot."

"Oh yeah, right. And I 'forgot' to tell you that I think it's ridiculous that you're jealous of Aaron, and you and I aren't even really dating!" I heard him mutter something that sounded like "yet" and I gripped the phone tighter, but trying to be careful not to break it. "Listen, Josh. I don't know what your problem is. Aaron is my friend, and I'm going to his party. If you'd like to stand in as my boyfriend there, get a bathing suit, by all means. I don't care. But the next time that one of you guys doesn't tell me something like this…" I trailed off, trying to think of something evil.

"You'll what? Scream me to death?" I groaned.

"You know what, maybe I will. Since this whole immortal thing seems to come with a few perks, maybe I'll do a test run of my screaming on you." And with that I hung up the phone and sat on my bed, laying back. I knew that in an hour I'd be headed over to the Carlson house to start training and maybe dent the books in the library, but now I was just pissed off, and I had no idea how people were going to buy that Josh and I were dating, when I wouldn't even want to be near him on Sunday. I picked my phone back up, and called Breanna's number.

"Hola! Long time not talk, hun!" I smiled. It was good to hear her voice again.

"Three way in Lizz. We've got major details to discuss. You got invited to Aaron's party, right?"

"Yeah, thanks to you. Hold on, I'm dialing."


	5. Chapter 5

"What the HELL?!" someone screamed loudly, and I shot up out of my fake sleep in my bed, to see Mom standing in the doorway, wide-eyed. When I had heard someone coming down the hall, I had pretended to be asleep. After coming back from practice, it was just about seven.

I rubbed my eyes stupidly like I always do, and looked at her.

"What's wrong, Mom." She blinked and walked towards me.

"What happened to your….hair? and your chest? And your face? You look really pale." She felt my forehead, and I could feel the pulse in her thumb on my cold skin for a split second before she swiped her hand away. "Holy crap. Your skin's like ice." I scooted back on the bed as she sat down on the edge. I blinked and thought for a second. What the hell was wrong with the glamour?? And why couldn't she see it.

"Mom, how different do I look to you?"

"Everything about you looks different. That's why I freaked out. You don't even look like Holly."

"Well…I am….this is what tends to happen……when you're a….a…uhm…"

"A what?"

"…A vampire?" She slumped off the side of the bed, her eyes rolling back.

"Oh crap."

"Wait, so you're telling me that my daughter is a VAMPIRE?!" My dad screamed the last word. I stood up, blocking him from lunging at Josh and Mr. Carlson. My family (minus the twins, who were at a friends) and Josh's family were back in the same living room where I had first been told about myself. And Dad looked fit to kill.

"Dad, this isn't Mr. Carlson's or Josh's fault. Like you heard, that damn ghost pushed me out the window. If they hadn't come, I'd be dead right now." I heard Josh snort, and my mom looked ever at me, speaking for the first time.

"But honey, you are dead. You're a vampire. The definition of dead." I rolled my eyes.

"Not exactly the definition-"

"Actually," Josh cut in, "the definition of dead is not living, and we're not exactly living here." [i]Not helping,[/i] I thought.

[i]Sorry.[/i] My eyes widened and I looked back at Josh.

[i]You can hear my thoughts?[/i] He nodded slightly, not tipping off my parents.

[i]It's a vampire thing.[/i] I rolled my eyes and looked back at my parents.

"Mom, Dad, I know this is a big change, and things are definitely going to be different, but….I guess you can kind of say that there's a bright side to this."

"And that is?" Dad still had that pissy tone in his voice.

"Well, I don't waste time sleeping. I'm faster, stronger, I look and feel better."

"But you're dead!" I sighed exasperatedly at Mom and looked back at Josh. He looked up at Caleb and I could hear little flickers of their thoughts. Why was this just now kicking in?? I guess maybe it's because I'm so….new? Caleb looked back at my parents at the same times as Josh, and I raised an eyebrow.

"Mr. and Mrs. Pevency, I know this is a lot to deal with. Trust us, we've been there." Caleb glanced over at Josh as he spoke, and Melanie smiled sadly. "But I think now we have a greater issue at hand." I blinked at looked back at Josh.

[i]What's he talking about?[/i]

[i]Just listen to him.[/i] I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow, looking back at Caleb. I saw Josh roll his eyes out of the corner of mine, and before I closed my mind to him, I muttered an insult.

[i]Jackass.[/i] He smirked.

"What do you mean, 'A greater issue?'" my father asked, crossing his own arms. I could guess right of the back that the Carlson's were thinking I got my stubbornness from him. Oh, but they hadn't seen my mom yet. "Isn't it enough of an issue that my daughter's an immortal vampire at thirteen?" I rolled my eyes again.

"While that may be the case, there's something else at play. I've talked to some of my friends about the ghost that…." Caleb trailed off, looking for the right word.

[i]Killed?[/i] I thought. Caleb raised an eyebrow at me and looked back at my parents. I really need to get better at this closing my mind thing.

"This ghost that...killed your daughter. We've discovered that this ghost has been banished before, and that means that-"

"Someone released it and sent it after me," I said quietly. Josh looked back over at me, and I sat back into the couch and let out a breath.

"Exactly," Melanie said.

"So let me get this straight," my mom said. "My daughter's not only a vampire, one with someone out to get her by letting ghosts loose on her?" Melanie let out a small laugh.

"I understand how worried you are, and why you think this is so strange. But after a while, being like us grows on you. And something about being an Italian vampire is special."

"Italian vampires are special?" I asked, raising a brow. Melanie and Caleb both nodded.

"Something about our lifeblood, our heritage maybe," Caleb said, motioning to himself and his family, "makes it so we don't have to sleep at all. Not all of us can do it, but most Italian natives who turn don't rest, like us. We seem to be the only ones, because other vampires have to sleep during the day."

"Like in the movies," Dad said plainly. Caleb smiles.

"Yes. So you, Holly, having you grandfathers blood, it makes you like us. Every once in a while you may need to rest, but most of the time you'll need none at all." I blinked and looked at my parents.

"Perk of having you two as my parents, then." They smiled for the first time all day, and I laughed. "So what are we going to do about whoever's after me?" Melanie stood up to clear our tea and Caleb spoke.

"Well, I have some older friends in Las Vegas, whom I originally contacted for the information, who might be able to help us more. But I need them all together to ask them these type of things, I don't want to go around asking the president and all his friends and family questions at different times."

"President?" The synchronism of myself and my parents was somewhat scary at a time like this, and Josh shook his head and chuckled. Caleb explained.

"The vampire nation has a president and all the people of the government as you humans do. Ours happens to be an old friend of ours from when we were living in Las Vegas. He and his friends are much older and more experienced than I am, and I would like to go and consult with them some time next week about all this."

"So we're taking a road trip?" I asked. Josh smiled.

"Well, plane trip, but yeah." I laughed, and then I felt something poking at my bottom lips.

"Crap," I said, putting my hand over my mouth. Both my parents looked a little stunned. I would too if my daughter's incisors had just elongated before my eyes. I blinked and stood up. "Josh, help," I whispered hoarsely. Before I could say anything else, Josh had run into the kitchen, and come back with a bag of blood and a glass. He poured half of it in and handed it to me, and I drank almost all of it in one gulp, making a face as I pulled it from my lips.

"We all hate it cold," Josh said. My parents looked horrified.

"It's from willing donors who know exactly what it's use is," Caleb said, laughing at my parents' faces.

Stripper clubs, casinos and neon lights, here I come.


	6. Chapter 6

"There all staring at me," I said, barely moving my mouth.

"Just ignore them, it's what I always do." I rolled my eyes and glanced over at Josh through the sunglasses I hadn't taken off all day.

"Yes, because you've always had a hundred bikini-clad girls staring at you at one time, and I've [i]always[/i] had a hundred horny 14 year old guys staring at me." I couldn't believe where I was. Sitting on a chase lounger next to Aaron's pool, I mean. Because Aaron and I are two of the youngest people in our grade, our birthday parties are usually kind of the last hurrah of the summer. Except, mine usually don't include kegs snuck in by my older brother (if I had one) or a bunch of girls that could pass for playboy bunnies all over me (well that would be just gross). But here I was, glamourless, my new brown-almost-black, jagged cut hair and all (I had gotten it done yesterday at the salon, just not the way I had originally planned), sitting in one of Aaron's chairs, with almost ever guy in the grade staring at me, wondering who the hell I was. I mean, sure, the girls were doing the same thing to Josh, but with his skater/nerd/hot prep thing he had going on, what with his long side bangs and non-prescription Versace glasses, fitted with transitions so he could go outside, I had to admit he looked good with his six-wait, eight-pack gleaming for all the world to see. Once I had finally convinced Aaron that it was really me (by relaying all the particular equations I knew he had had trouble with in tutoring), I had headed strait for a shaded lounger with Josh at my side, holding my hand, still posing at my pseudo boyfriend (which explained to all my friends why I would be hanging out with him so much, since it didn't really matter to my parents anymore).

"Hello, good lookin." I looked up and pushed my glasses onto my forehead. Michael Attwood was looking me over, one hand on his hip and the other holding a drink (alcohol, probably). I flashed over some mental replays of my relationship with Michael to Josh, so he'd know who exactly who we were dealing with here. I heard his jaw clench. See, Michael had been one of those guys that you absolutely hate, but you can't be mean to cause their girlfriend would trash your social reputation or kick your ass (or both), since about fifth grade. He's a player, an asshole, and as of June 14th, the most eligible bachelor in our grade aside from Aaron, who wasn't much into playing the field (a rare thing in our generation). In my middle school, the eighth-almost ninth-graders acted more like high school kids than 14 year olds. The drama and relationship crap we deal with happens in like senior grade at most schools.

"Michael, what can I help you with?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. He looked confused.

"How'd you know who I am?"

"Michael, I've known you since about third grade." Even more confusion. "Michael, it's me, Holly." His eyes widened.

"No way!" I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not playing this game. It's me, get over it."

"Holy shit, it really is you." Josh was shaking his head too. As he said this, someone else slid into place next to him. Crap. Todd Fuller. The local total perve, as we like to call him.

"Well who might this pretty young lady be?" Todd asked in an innocent voice.

"Dude, that's Holly Pevency." Some of Michael's drink sloshed out of his cup as he gestured to me.

"Damn, girl you got [b]hot[/b] over the summer." I rolled my eyes again. Josh stood up quickly and stood in from on me, holding his hand out to Michael.

"I don't believe we've met," he said, his accent strong in his anger. "I'm Josh, Holly's boyfriend." Josh shook Michael's hand, looking slightly fearful. Did I mention that Josh is about three inches taller and a lot more muscular than Michael? Yeah didn't think so. Anyways, as Michael and Todd scurried off, Lizzy and Bree scampered towards us.

"Ohmigosh, Holls!" Lizzy said, pulling me into a three-way hug. "You said on the phone that we wouldn't recognize you, but this is awesome!" I knew I'd have to tell them eventually why I had changed so much, but, for now I'd just let them think it was a good dye job and a lot of working out.

"Thanks," I said, returning the hug. They pulled out and immediately looked over at Josh.

"And who is this?" Bree asked. I smiled and grabbed Josh's hand for the added effect.

"Girls, this is Josh, the guy I was telling you about on the phone. He's my….well he's my boyfriend."

"Ohmigosh, tell us [b]exactly[/b] how it happened!" Lizzy pulled me into the seat after her proclamation and I tried to come up with the best story I could. Right then, right where I was, with Josh just standing behind me on the look out, talking to my girl again, it was the first piece of normalcy I had had in a while, and it was the last I was going to have in a while, too.

"Remind me again why we're doing this?" I asked Josh, swing-kicking at his head. He ducked and stepped away, motioning for me to do it again.

"Because, when you're one of us, you tend to run into trouble along the way. And especially for someone like you, you want to be repaired for whatever comes along." I rolled my eyes and kicked up again, just grazing his forehead as he ducked. "Ow, son of a-" He cut off after he saw me glaring at him. At almost midnight the Tuesday after Aaron's party, even though I was supposed to be some Energizer-Bunny vampire, I was really tired. And after about four hours of this kickboxing practice, I was pissed off too.

"Someone like me?" He shrugged and motioned for me to come at him.

"You know."

"No, I don't."

"Oh, come on."

"Spit it out."

"Oh, whatever, like you could hurt me. I've had almost two hundred years to practice this stuff." I rolled my eyes.

"Really." I thought for a second, and then widened my eyes and cheesily pointed to a vague area behind him. "Oh my god, it's Jessica Alba!!" Of course, being a boy, he turned around, wide eyed, and at that second, I jumped on his back, making him topple forwards. Before he could react, I pinned his arm behind him and straddled his waist from behind.

"Is that the best you've got?" he asked cheekily, and I twisted his arm harder. In the blink of an eye, he was out from under me, and in another blink, he was on top of me, his hands pinning my arms above my head. "That's why you don't get cocky," he said, his breathing slightly heavy. I looked up at him in disbelief and tried to move out from under him. He smirked and held my arms tighter. [i]Asshole[/i], I thought. He smirked still, and I started to feel myself blushing. "Awww, is wittle Howwy a wittle embewassed?" I rolled my eyes.

"No, Wittle Howwy is a wittle pissed off because some perve won't get off her." He laughed.

"So I'm a perve now, am I?"

"You're a thirteen year old boy. What thirteen year-old isn't a perve?"

"Ahh, but I'm not thirteen. I'm almost 200."

"Obviously not in the mental area. Cause the things I'm picking up off your feed sound pretty thirteen year old-ish to me." I could feel him trying to slam his mental door shut. I laughed. "Now can you let me go? My stupid sports bra is riding up because your knees are pushing it up. And it's really uncomfortable." I noted to myself never to work out in just a sports bra and shorts again.

He let go of my arms with one hand, still pinning them with the other, and pulled the bottom hem of my bra down, almost a little too far, with a slightly shaky hand. We don't really need to breathe, but I was still getting used to not using oxygen, and I could hear my breathing become shallow and shaky and his face moved closer and closer to mine.

"[b]Josh? Holly?[/b]" I mentally cursed the mansion's intercom system as Josh rolled off of me quickly and I sat up.

"Yeah, Dad?" Josh said, standing up and offering me a hand, not looking me in the eye. I stood up without his assistance and adjusted my top.

"You and Holly need to finish getting everything loaded into the car so we can head to the airport. I know it's our plane, but we still don't want to keep people waiting."

"Ok, Caleb. We'll be right down." I headed for the door, pulling my hair out of my ponytail and running my hands through it.

[i]What was that?[/i] I looked back at Josh, and he was still standing in the middle of the room, his arms crossed.

[i]Teenage hormones coming to play? I don't know. Just forget it. We're just pretending to date. [/i] Before I could think anything else, Josh pushed past me and out the door. Was this what it was always going to be? Every time something happens, we fight, and then we pretend to be all happy about it and it goes away? Gah. I went and changed quickly in the room I had set up upstairs in the house, a few doors down from Josh's, and then finished helping loading the car.

"You two OK?" Caleb asked from the front of the car as we headed to the airport. "You're awfully quiet."

"Fine," Josh and I said in unison, both of us with our arms crossed.

"Well you two better get your attitudes together, or Holly might not get what we've planned for her tonight." Another surprise? Oh, great. I raised an eyebrow but didn't ask anything. We were already getting ready to take off when the pilot came on the overcome.

"Mr. Carlson, we're ready to take of for Las Vegas International."


	7. Chapter 7

I wasn't kidding about the strip clubs, either. Even though I had my sun glasses on at all times, as we drive down the Vegas Strip, I swear, we passed about fifteen clubs in a mile radius, one I particularly noticed called "Some Like It Hot," because it's sign had the glaring neon depiction of a woman pole dancing. I could see that Josh was finding it amusing that I, of all people, who school where I do with all the people I had met at Aaron's party, thought that all strip clubs should be burned to the ground along with gentlemen's clubs and public restrooms. But most of the people that [i]I[/i] hang out with aren't as bad as Michael and Todd. Well, some of them are….

"Here we are." Caleb's voice broke the silence as we stopped in front of one of those 100-story buildings at the end of the strip. I looked up, and more neon lights flashed "The Ava Hotel and Casino." So this is where we were meeting up with Caleb's friends? At a Casino? Well this aught' a be interesting. "Ethan and all of them should just be getting up, so we may have to wait for a couple of minutes before we can talk to them."

"Just getting up?" I was confused.

"They're not Italian. I think we've got a Brit, an Irishman and a Frenchman up there, and their spouses are all American. Two of them are human though, so you'll at least be entertained by their son Adam." I blinked.

"Uhm….ok." We headed inside, and were immediately escorted up about 80 floors, when I private elevator lead us into someone's private suite.

"You things will be delivered to your own suites, and Mr. Carrick will be with you momentarily." With that, Our escort headed down a hall in the suite, and left us in the tidy living room.

"Wait a second, didn't I see a picture of some Carrick guy when we walked in?" I asked. Caleb and Melanie both nodded.

"Ethan Carrick is the owner of this casino. He's also an old friend of ours." Before Caleb could say anything else, the escort came back down the hall and into the elevator, and a moment later, a man with black hair wearing slacks and a button up shirt came down the hall, followed by a shorter woman with short blonde hair, wearing a blue summer dress.

"Caleb, Melanie!" the man shouted, pulling Caleb into a brotherly hug. The woman hugged Melanie cheerfully and kissed her on both cheeks.

"Alexis, it's good to see you again," Melanie said. The woman smiled and hugged Caleb after the man had let go of him, moving to hug Melanie. Then, he spotted Josh. I stepped back as he bear hugged Josh. He was only a few inches taller than him, but it was funny to see, and even funnier when he gave Josh a noogie.

"Hey Uncle Ethan," Josh said, sounding embarrassed. I tried not to laugh as I could tell that Josh would be blushing right now if he could. That's when Alexis and Ethan spotted me.

"Well this must be the newcomer," Alexis said, holding out a hand. "I'm Alexis Carrick, Ethan's wife. Pleased to meet you." I shook her hand, smiling politely. She leaned in close and whispered into my ear. "Don't worry. I'm somewhat new to this whole thing too. You get used to it after a while." I laughed and moved to Ethan.

"And I'm Ethan Carrick, owner of the Ava and President of the vampire nation."

"Stop showing off," Alexis said, rolling her eyes. I smiled gave a pretend little curtsey.

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. President. I'm Holly Pevency." Josh snorted behind me, and Alexis let out a little giggle.

"Oh yeah, she'll fit right in here."

This is soooo awkward. Ok, sell maybe not [i]that[/i] awkward, but what could be more awkward than sitting in a room with three women that looked about twice your age, with nothing to talk about while everyone else was in the next room discussing you. Of course, the fact that I had met Alexis a little time before Brittany and Cara had helped a bit, but I still had nothing to say.

"So, Holly, where do you work back in Texas?" Cara asked. I blinked.

"Uhm….work?" I raised an eyebrow. "I don't work yet. Technically not allowed to get my workers permit till Friday on my birthday." All of them looked a bit taken aback. Brittany's baby, Adam, gurgled in her lap.

"How old are you, exactly?" Brittany asked, looking confused.

"Well technically I'm the same age as Josh….."

"You're thirteen?" Alexis asked, shocked.

"Uh…yeah?"

"You look about twenty something," Cara said, sitting back on the couch.

"I seem to be getting that a lot lately. Josh made some crack about how I should apply for a job at that strip club, Some Like It Hot, down the street from here." Cara looked down, and Alexis laughed. "What?"

"Cara used to work there, back when she was human," Alex explained, shaking her head. "And Josh is right, you could certainly pass for their age limit." I laughed this time.

"That was true even before I changed. My friends always said I looked older." I smiled and shook my head. Just then, the door opened, and Josh, Ethan, Caleb, Melanie, Seamus and Corbin all piled out of Seamus' suite, Josh looking a bit peeved. And that would be when I heard the door to Ethan's suite bang open, and two second later, Sadie flounced into the room, wearing a tank top and jeans, sunglasses still adorning her face. She was followed by a man who looked somewhat like Caleb. His hair was graying in places, and he wore the older, 80's cop style glasses. Both of them simultaneously pulled their glasses onto their heads, and Sadie beamed at everyone.

"Sorry we're late," she started. "Our plane got delayed. Some idiot was carrying safety scissors." Caleb walked over to the two and pulled the man into a brotherly hug.

"Eli, good to see you! I keep telling you to get your own plane." Eli laughed as he pulled back. He gestured back to Sadie.

"I would, but this one's already spoiled enough with the yacht." Sadie rolled her eyes and danced over to where I was, pulling me into a small hug. I was a bit shell shocked, but hugged her back.

"Holly, it's great to see you again!" She smiled wider and walked over to Josh, hugging him too. "And Josh, always a pleasure." Josh seemed to brighten up a bit and hugged her back.

"Sadie! Did Johnny tag along." Sadie pulled back and rolled her eyes again.

"No, he's got those stupid football tryouts for the new school. He promised not to use too much strength, but God knows…" She trailed off, gesturing to Josh. He rolled his eyes too, and looked back at me. How did everyone know each other? Who was this guy with Sadie? Who was this Johnny character? How did Ethan know Caleb and Melanie? The confusion just kept piling on, and I felt like my brain was about to explode.

"Ok, wait, everybody stop!" I put my arms out, and the room's chatted died down, everyone staring at me. I stuttered. "Would s-someone p-please explain what's g-going on? And what y-you looked so depressed a-about?" I pointed to Josh, and he scowled, turning his head so his brown bangs covered his eyes. Sadie looked sympathetic, and Caleb stepped in front of me.

"You might want to sit down." I crossed my arms and scoffed, trying to sound calm.

"Caleb, you'd think I could handle pretty much anything after what I've been through." I could see Josh and Sadie smiling out of the corners of my eyes, and Caleb raised his eyebrows, and crossed his arms right back.

"OK, how about this? We think you're a Nymph Princess."

"Maybe I do need to sit down."

"Out of all the things I could be, it had to be a Nymph Princess Vampire." Sadie, on the other side of the racks of dresses, started cracking up. _Shut up,_ I thought. She only laughed harder.

"I'm s-sorry," she stuttered. "It just sounds so funny when you say it like that." I rolled my eyes for what felt like the twentieth time that day. Cara threw me a look out of the corner of her eyes.

"Did your mom explain anything on the phone?" I twirled a piece of loose hair in my fingers as I passed a rack of pink, sparkly dresses, scowling.

"Well, all she could say was that her mom, my nana, was really good with lighting candles. She never got burned, even when she was cooking."

"So she's a Fire Nymph?" Brittany came around from the other side of the rack, holding a simple LBD up to her.

"She _was_. And nice choice on the LBD." She smiled, but Alexis looked confused.

"LBD?" She was holding about five different dresses in her hand, each one of them a vibrant color. Sadie answered before I could.

"Little black dress. One of the five staples every female should have in her closet." I smiled and nodded as I pulled a cream and gold short cut princess dress off the rack, holding it up to myself.

"Honey, you've gotta stop thinking you're still a size eight." Sadie grabbed the dress out of my hands and handed me the same one in a smaller size.

"Sorry, force of habit." I held it up to me again. "I don't even get why we're dress shopping. I mean, the party's not gonna be like a ball or anything. And apparently there's some sort of surprise for me there." Melanie had stayed behind at the hotel with the boys, who all already had their tuxes, to make sure that everything was set straight for the event. After the hour of explaining Ethan and Caleb had done, it was almost midnight by the time we got out to shop. Only in Vegas are dress shops open till like three AM.

"I don't know," Alexis started. "The boys just said to be ready by three thirty in the morning. Night life is weird like that. We don't even know what this whole thing is about." I rolled my eyes again and grabbed another dress off the rack.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are the other four staples in a woman's closet?" Brittany was speaking again, and she too was holding a few dresses now. I smiled knowingly and turned to her.

"Well, there's the LBD, of course. And then a good pair of jeans, a white button up shirt, a pair of black ballet flats, and then a black blazer. You can do so many things with all of those."

"God, are you sure you're thirteen?" Alexis laughed at her own joke. I shrugged.

"I've spent all my allowance for most of the past year on Cosmo." By the time we got to the dressing room, we all had our hands full. Most of us had five dresses, Sadie being the exception, having seven. She tried two of them on, quickly throwing them in the "no" pile. Each of us put one dress on, and at the count of three we all stepped out. The first four times, each of us had no's.

"One, two, three!" I stepped out of my stall, and looked at the four other girls.

"Oh. My. Gosh." I glanced at Sadie as I went over everyone else's dresses. Alexis was wearing a dark green corseted dress that was flowy towards the bottom. Cara was wearing a burgundy v-necked slip dress what accentuated her curves. Brittany had on her LBD, a strapless number. Sadie had on an ice blue silk cocktail dress that her legs looked amazing in. And I, ironically enough, was wearing a blood red corseted dress, with a tool skirt that ended just before the knees, with gold and orange accents.

"You all look amazing!" Cara crowed, adjusting her bangs.

"All the guys are gonna go gaga over you two," Brittany said, gesturing to myself and Sadie.

"Well, I'm taken, technically." I put air quotes around the words taken and a pulled my hair out of my ponytail. "But only at school. For now, since tonight is just going to be vampires, I think I'm safe to do a little flirting."

"Hey, Sadie, it's too bad Johnny didn't come, or you could have totally set him up with Holly here." Sadie made a face.

"Holly would have kicked his ass for being the sick pervert he is." Wow, Sadie sure had a strong opinion of her twin brother. As I had learned, Sadie and her brother Johnny had been on the same train as the Carlson's in Ireland when it crashed. Eli was there as well. Ethan was the vampire who changed them all those years ago. Apparently he was almost a millennium old. Strange thought, how much he's seen.

"Sadie, I remind you, I'm in ninth grade. I'm used to sick perverts."

"Oh, if only it were still the twenties." She had this wistful look in her eyes. "Back then, men treated women like ladies. Even teenagers." As I headed back into my changing room, I snorted.

"Yeah, now all guys think about is sex, boos, and more sex."

"Don't forget blood," Alexis said. We all laughed.

"Haha, yeah. Oh, that reminds me, I need to feed when we get back to the Ava. I haven't eaten in like a day." And as we checked out, I couldn't help but think that tonight was going to be more fun than I thought.


End file.
